North Korea flies more trash balloons after Seoul resumes propaganda broadcasts

North Korea’s latest balloon flying is threatening to escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula. South Korea earlier warned it would conduct loudspeaker broadcasts in a fuller manner and take other stronger steps if North Korea continues provocations like balloon launches.

Loudspeakers set up for propaganda broadcasts near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea in 2018. South Korea said on Friday it has restarted anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts across the border. Photo: AP

Since late May, North Korea has floated numerous balloons on a series of launch events to drop scraps of cloth, cigarette butts, waste batteries and even manure on South Korea, though they caused no major damage in South Korea.

North Korea said the initial balloons were launched in response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets to the North via their own balloons. North Korea views South Korean civilian leafleting activities as a major threat to its leadership as the country prohibits official access to foreign news for most of its 26 million people, experts say.

In a statement Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that South Korean “scum” must be ready to pay “a gruesome and dear price” over the leafleting activities. She said more South Korean leaflets had been found in North Korea. That raised concerns North Korea could stage physical provocations, rather than balloon launches.

In response to North Korea’s balloon campaigns, South Korea responded by suspending a 2018 tension-reduction deal with North Korea, a step required for it to restart propaganda broadcasts and conduct front-line live-fire military drills at border areas. On June 9, South Korea made propaganda broadcasts for two hours at the border.

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